Hyderabad: “The Syro Malabar Church is not language-oriented. Often the rite is misunderstood due to its Malayali origin, but it goes hand in hand with other communities to enhance unity in diversity in the church,” said Bishop Raphael Thattil, the Apostolic Visitator of the Syro Malabar Catholic Church.
The bishop was speaking at the Dukrana celebration organised by the Hyderabad Syro Malabar Catholics at Ameenpur on Sunday. Dukrana is the celebration of the Feast of St Thomas.
Bishop Raphael said that the Catholic Church, which comprises 24 different rites across the world, including three in India, is not a communion of uniformity but one of unity in diversity.
“Like India is a country united with people from different cultures, religions and traditions, the Catholic Church is also united in diversity with different rites, and the variety of each rite is its biggest treasure,” he said.
With people migrating from Kerala to other parts of the country and the world, the number of Syro Malabar Catholics is also growing outside Kerala. Syro Malabar Catholics in places liked Adilabad, Takkala in Tamil Nadu and Kalyan in Maharashtra, though not Catholics, have become an important part.
